1992rs/ss

so I haven't gotten a response from FLYNBYE Performance so wondering if anyone here knows. I am looking at this kit but not sure if I just need the modified spindles or there are more parts required

kit
http://www.flynbye.com/catalog/i70.html

spindle kit
http://www.flynbye.com/catalog/i104.html

anybody know?

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Are you looking for a complete kit, or what?

There are options to provide anything from just brackets all the way to a complete assembled spindle.

What you should buy will depend on how much work you want to do.

1992rs/ss

Complete kit spindles and all. I see that kit gets you hubs and two piece rotors, but is that kit all inclusive to just bolt on and go?

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

I would imagine that includes everything you need, bolt on and go, but I won't speak for Ed.

rlewi771

Not suprised you cant get a hold of them. I purchased that kit through flynbye and while it has done pretty well for me, fit and finish is not perfect. Plus the fact that you cant ever get a hold of anyone if you happen to have a question, I will take my business elsewhere next time. There are other companies out there that will be there to answer your questions and provide you with much better service.

BOTTLEDZ28

iTrader: (9)

I sent you a PM regarding a kit I have for sale. If you are running 16" wheels then you MAY be able to use a C5 Z06 caliper IF you sand down some of the cooling fins. It's been done a few times here already.

Beater79TA

Also not surprised you can't get in touch with them. I run the Wilwood GTA kit and broke 2 calipers due to fitment / quality issues with the caliper bracket provided with the kit. With a little help from Wilwood, I got a newer better set of replacement calipers and a welder allowed me to strengthen his 3 piece bracket as a temporary fix to the bracket. My next big complaint with the kit is the lack of part numbers for the 2 piece rotor unit which will cause issues if you ever need to replace a rotor. And, finally, the brake lines supplied with the kit area a bit shorter than I would really like. About 2 more inches would allow for better routing. Most of these issues wouldn't be a problem if Ed were easier to get in touch with.

Given the issues I had with the kit, I've had a local machine shop reproduce his 3 piece bracket as a 1 piece unit so that the next time I have the spindle torn down I can replace them with a more solidly built unit. That will also be the point where I take lots of measurements on the rotor hat to determine the replacement part number for it and the rotor.

At least one of the calipers broke while running at an event with a rep from Wilwood watching. I now have a great relationship with them for parts and the forms to get the car sponsored.

rlewi771

Beater79 nailed it. No part #'s, no directions. It's surprising to me that Ed wouldn't have devoted more time to this. With as many kits as he's already designed and the name he has for himself, I don't think he was too far away from having a large chunk of the market and an awesome opportunity to work for yourself. Oh well

Beater79TA

There are some part numbers in the Wilwood GTA documentation. Just not for the rotors and hats. I don't believe those are even Wilwood parts. I think someone on here posted that he got those from Coleman Racing.

The caliper brackets are the truly fun part though as those are made in house by him. I had a friend run them into a CAD system to make it easy for the machine shop to reproduce them as a solid billet piece. I had the threads strip out of 2 of his brackets leading to catastrophic caliper failure. The temp fix was to weld a grade 8 nut to the bracket for the bolt to thread into. The long term fix is the billet brackets.

1992rs/ss

wow, don't like the sound of that. Well sounds like I will be avoiding his stuff then.

I just noticed this kit from Baer.

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/pr...DFirebird.html

Anyone have any experience with this?

Beater79TA

The Baer kit looks like you have to modify your own spindles for it. Not really an issue though since you can buy the spindles from places like www.bigbrakeupgrade.com if you don't want to modify your own. If you factor that in, the cost of the kit is about $2k. In all honesty, if you aren't going to track the car on the road course or autox, you should be fine with just moving up to something like the LS1 kit or even a 1LE setup both of which are less expensive.

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

I don't understand how stripped threads in the bracket have caused a caliper failure? What were the bolts torqued to?

Perhaps a picture would help me understand.

1992rs/ss

I will be pushing 600hp with a supercharged 383. Call me crazy but brakes that match seem important. 2 piston sliding calipers and 11" rotors on a car that weighs 3600lbs just don't cut it IMO. Heck my 2008 Malibu has brakes that big and that isn't a performance car! Not to mention the ls1 brakes will look kind of tiny behind 18" wheels. While I can't say money is no object, I am willing to spend a good chunk for some decent brakes

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

Damn, that was the kit I was looking into getting from Ed... Do you have any interest in selling me a set of the billet brackets you had made?

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Then maybe you should think about a set of these...

ZR1


CTS-V


SS


Wilwood

Beater79TA

Kit was torqued and safety wired according to the spec in Ed's instructions. When the threads stripped, the bolt didn't turn because of the safety wire but it did start to back out when the car was on a autox course. Then the caliper started moving when the brakes where applied. This led to the mounting lug on the caliper breaking off which allowed the caliper to rotate out from the rotor and make contact with the inside of the wheel. This scenario happened twice on the passenger side of the car. The first time Ed told us it must have been a problem with the caliper and SOLD us a replacement. The second time it happened at an event less than 100 ft from a Wilwood factory rep who gave us a replacement caliper from their display and took the broken one back to the shop for engineering to exam it.

What Wilwood found was Ed sold us a 10 year old caliper. As in out of production for 10 years and replaced with a newer model. They also ran a metallurgy test to see if there was something wrong with the forging which came back with no issues with the metallurgy. They also sent us a matching pair of the current version of the caliper and fresh pads. When we went to put those on, we found issues with the bracket and ordered new brackets from Ed. And we chalked up the damage to the bracket as a result of the caliper breaking not the cause of it all.

When we received the replacement bracket from Ed, the threads stripped out of it during installation at 20 ft/lbs when the instructions said to torque to 45 and then safety wire it. And by stripped, I mean came out like a poorly installed Helicoil only it wasn't a Helicoil, it was threads cut into the steel of the bracket.

The only way we could make that set of brackets work was to assemble everything off the car, run a nut down on the exposed threads of the bolt and then weld the nut to the bracket. Then and only then could we torque it to his spec and safety wire it. Fortunately this arrangement doesn't contact the inside of the rotor hat. It's close but it doesn't touch.

That was when I sent the spare out to be run through CAD and have better ones made.

Beater79TA

Brackets would only work with the 12.2 inch GTA kit. In order to sell any, I would have to see if the shop is interested in making more as I had enough made for my cars and 1 set of spares just in case.

Assuming the 13 inch kit uses the same style bracket, I would recommend checking for clearance to put a nut on the back side and either safety wire it or weld it to the bracket for insurance. Or make friends with someone who does component design for a living with connections with a prototyping machine shop to have replacements made.....

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Very strange. These are lug mount FSL calipers with 7/16" through holes???

20 ft-lbs is shockingly low. The brackets I use are stainless and I have tested to multiples cycles at 150 ft-lbs. This is on a 75 ft-lb torque spec connection.

I also don't understand what the age of the caliper has to do with anything. My dd is running on 13 year old OEM calipers and there are plenty of people here of 30+ year old OEM GM calipers.

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Send me a PM if you are looking for brackets for the 13" kit.

John

Beater79TA

Correct, lug mounted FSL calipers with the 7/16 bolt. Lug broke off of 2 of them when the bolts lost torgue and allowed it to move. Improper machining of some kind is the only possible reason why threads cut into the bracket would strip out like that.

Age really doesn't have anything to do with except that I had just purchased the kit 6 months earlier and reasonably expected to be receiving units that were less than a decade old.

87350IROC

iTrader: (2)

Agreed on both points. Very strange.